Rescuers, Department of Conservation rangers and the local community have been working to refloat the whales at Farewell Spit in Golden since being alerted on Monday.
Some 13 whales have died from the original stranding of nearly 40.
Project Jonah's Louisa Hawkes told RNZ's Morning Report programme some whales restranded overnight.
Of those on the shore, a few had remained where the pod originally stranded but most moved towards the sea by this morning, she said.
Hawkes said later in the day the refloated whales were sticking close to the shore.
"There is enough water around them but whether they have the ability or desire to swim out deeper, that's up to them."
If they were still there when the tide went out, the team would continue to look after them, she said.
Doc operations manager Ross Trotter said the whales were in about 1.5m of water, "but we're not home and hosed yet".
Local iwi would perform a karakia today for the whales that died.
